/ 


REV.  PETER  CARTWRIGHT,  D.  D. 


AN 


ADDRESS  D[[lf[RED  BEFORE  IHE  llElilS  STIIIE  HISIORlCfli  SOil! 


AT  ITS 


i.  ILL 

January  23,   1902. 
By  President  M.  H.  Ohamberlin,  of  McKendree  College. 


REV.  PETER  CARTWRIGHT,  D.  D. 

[By  President  M.  H.  Chamberlin.  of  McKendree  college.! 

Peter  Cartwright  was  born  in  Amherst  county,  Va.,  Sept.  1,  1785;  died  at 
his  home  in  Pleasant  Plains,  Sangamon  county,  Sept.  25,  1872,  aged  87  years 
and  24  days. 

His  father  was,  for  two  years,  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  and  his  mother — 
orphaned  when  a  child — was  a  devoutly  pious  woman. 

In  1791  the  Cartwrights,  with  200  other  families,  turned  their  faces  toward 
the  setting  sun  in  search  of  new  homes  in  the  then  western  wildernesses  of 
Kentucky.  They  were  accompanied  by  100  well  mounted  and  armed  young 
men,  who  acted  as  an  escort  and  defense  against  the  hostile  Indians  that  in- 
fested the  country,  and,  as  compensation  for  their  services,  they  were  pro- 
visioned on  the  pilgrimage. 

The  migration  at  that  time  was  largt-,  and,  as  there  were  no  wagon  roads, 
the  pack  animal  was  the  only  method  of  transportation.  The  trail  over 
which  they  passed  was  literally  red  with  the  blood  of  the  slain  victims  of  the 
aborigines.  In  one  place  the  company  struck  their  camp  fires  in  the  presence 
of  the  dead,  only  recently  murdered,  while  in  another  they  halted  to  bury  six 
men,  emigrants  returning  to  Virginia,  and,  again,  seven  families,  from 
among  their  own  number,  who  voted  to  camp  where  nightfall  found  them — 
rather  than  continue  their  journey  an  added  seven  miles  to  the  first  white 
settlement,  where  Fort  Crab  Orchard  was  located— were  all,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  single  individual,  cruelly  slaughtered  and  plundered  of  their 
belongings. 

Kentucky,  at  that  time,  was  claimed  by  no  one  tribe  of  Indians,  but  was 
held  by  them  all  as  a  common  hunting  ground,  abounding  in  every  variety  of 
game,  for  which  reason  its  invasion  by  the  white  man  was  contested  in  a 
warfare  of  the  utmost  malignancy.  In  the  struggle  for  the  occupancy  of  Ken- 
tucky the  number  of  the  slain  reached  such  proportions  that  it  was  known  to 
both  contesting  parties  as  the  "Land  of  Blood,"  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  that  State  is  the  reddest  battlefield  of  our  earlier  western  pioneer  history. 

The  Cartwrights  settled  on  a  little  farm,  in  Lincoln  county,  where  they  re- 
mained for  two  years  when  they  removed  to  the  county  of  Logan,  about  nine 
miles  south  of  the  present  city  of  Russellville.  This  locality  was  known  as 
"Rogues'  Harbor"  for  the  reason  that  men  of  desperate  character,  fugitives 
from  justice,  from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  had  taken  refuge  there — gamblers, 
horse  thieves,  robbers  and  murderers — until  they  actually  outnumbered  the 
population  favoring  good  order.  It  was  almost  impracticable,  on  trial,  to 
convict  these  offenders  since  their  associates  would  swear  them  clear  of  their 
offenses,  and,  when  inculpating  verdicts  were  secured,  the  courts  were  pow- 
erless to  execute  their  judgments.  Indeed  anarchy  prevailed,  and  the 
Cartwrights,  having  escaped  the  perils  incident  to  the  raids  of  the  murderous 
Indian,  seemed  to  have  fallen  into  a  society  where  life  and  property  were  as 
insecure  as  when  they  were  surrounded  by  the  hostile  aborigines,  which,  at 
that  time,  were  happily  driven  from  Kentucky  territory.  The  reign  of  terror 
which  prevailed  led  to  an  armed  organization  of  the  friends  of  good  order, 
which  was  promptly  met  by  a  like  organization  of  the  malevolent  forces,  the 


first  bnltle  resulting  in  victory  for  the  latter,  with  slain  victims  on  both  sides 
of  thii  contest.  Indeed  many  peoi)lf  wvrt'  killed  befor*'  the  L'ood  order  party 
secured  control  of  the  county. 

Tnder  the  best  of  circumstances,  in  tliat  country,  ilie  Cartwntjhls  wcnild 
liave  had  i)Ut  little  encoura^'eiuent.  If  the  liorrorsot  an  almost  c<jnlinuous  war 
attended  with  blootl  and  carnage,  had  been  eliminated,  you  wouM  still  have 
found  this  family  40  miles  distant  from  a  jurist  mill,  without  a  nearby  school, 
and  no  newspaper  in  all  Kentuiky,  south  of  (Jreen  river.  The  father  and 
son  trrew  the  flax  anil  cotton,  which  was  stripped  from  the  reed  of  the  one, 
anil  picked  and  grinned  from  the  bowl  of  the  other,  bv  the  fingers  of  mother 
ami  sister.  The  same  hands  turned  these  products  into  thread  on  the  spin- 
ning wheel,  made  it  into  cloth  on  the  loom,  cut  it  into  pattern,  an«l  after 
Bewing  it  together,  the  strange  evolution  of  a  pioneer  garment  was  effected. 
The  couch  on  which  they  rested  from  the  toils  of  the  day,  made  by  sinking 
two  forks  in  the  grounil,  on  which  three  poles  were  placed,  the  wall  of  the 
cabin  making  the  fourth  support,  a  dining  table  constructed  in  like  manner, 
the  jfrain,  of  which  their  bread  was  made,  broken  with  pestle  and  mortar  and 
sieved  through  a  perforated  deer  skin  stretched  upon  sticks,  is  an  inventory 
of  the  chief  articles  of  furniture  in  the  Cartwright  family. 

Now  let  me  paut;e  to  ask  what  destiny  have  you  to  predict  for  a  lad  raised 
amid  such  scenes  of  blood  and  deprivation,  particularly  when,  before  he  was 
1.")  years  of  age,  his  first  presents,  from  his  own  father,  were  a  race  horse 
and  cards  for  gaming? 

If  he  should  turn  out  as  bad  as  the  worst  element  in  "Rogues  Harbor'' 
surely  our  judgment  shoulil  be  tempered  with  merciful  moderation;  while,  on 
the  other  haiul,  if  he  sIhjuKI  grow  up  into  a  life  of  integrity  and  usefulness, 
our  approbation  should  not  fall  a  whit  short  of  admiration  and  unstinted 
praise. 

Young  Cartwright  ran  a  short  career  of  horse  racing  and  gambling,  for 
which  he  had  a  passionate  fondness,  and  in  which  he  was  very  successful  as 
a  winner  of  money.  After  attending  a  certain  wedding,  accompanied  by  his 
father,  where  the  hilarity  rose  to  a  height  little  short  of  a  carousal,  he  fell 
under  the  deepest  conviction  over  the  life  he  was  leading.  His  agony  of 
mind  wa^'  so  great  that  he  was  pronounced  "crazy"  bj'  his  neighbors.  He 
turned  his  race  horse  over  to  his  father,  gave  his  cards  to  his  mother,  who 
burned  them,  and,  after  several  weeks  of  mental  distraction,  attended  a  sacra- 
mental meeting,  held  umler  the  auspices  of  a4*resbyterian  clergyman,  where 
he  was  converted  and  joined  the  church  of  his  mother — the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal. In  his  determination  to  lead  a  new  life  he  had  the  counsel  and  prayers 
of  his  mother,  while  his  father — be  it  said  to  his  credit— offered  nt)  oppo- 
sition. 

In  ISOl  he  was  licensed  as  an  exhorter.  The  same  year  he  moved  with  his 
father  to  Lewiston  county,  locating  near  an  academy  taught  by  a  Scotch 
seceder.  whose  liatred  of  the  Methodists  was  only  equalled  by  his  excellence 
as  a  teacher.  Cartwright  made  rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  in  the  mean- 
time, occasionally,  exercising  his  gifts  as  an  exhorter.  This  incurred  not 
only  the  displeasure  of  his  teacher  but  the  ridicule  of  his  pupils,  and  it  was 
determined  by  two  of  the  latter,  to  decoy  him  to  a  steep  bank  on  a  nearby 
creek  aiid  tlirow  him  into  a  pool  of  deep  water.  The  suddenly  developed 
kindness  of  his  heretofore  persecutors  aroused  young  Cartwnght's  godly 
alertness  and  tensioneil  his  convertetl  muscles  so  that,  in  due  time— though 
never  a  believer  in  immersion  as  a  saving  ordinance — he  administered  to  his 
persei'utors  the  baptism  which  it  was  their  purpose  the  young  Methodist 
should  experience.  The  utter  lack  of  encouragement  received  from  his 
teacher,  and  the  hitter's  sympathy  with  Cartwriglit's  fellow  student  persecu- 
tors, caused  him  to  abandon  the  school,  and,  at  the  age  of  18  he  entered 
upon  a  ministerial  career,  than  which  there  has  been  none  other  more  re- 
markable in  the  history  of  this  country,  nor  none  more  effective,  or  useful, 
in  all  that  broail  empire  known  as  the  Mississippi,  vallej'. 

To  follow  his  lonely  career  as  an  itinerant — the  faithful  horse  which  he  be- 
strode being  his  onlj'  companion — through  storm  and  tempest,  cold  and  hun- 
ger, scantily  clad;    on   circuits   measured  by  hundreds  of  miles,  through  a 


sparsely  settled  country,  where  only  an  occasional  waggon  road  was  known, 
and  across  unbridgfed  streams,  would  be  an  intensely  interesting  study,  did 
my  time  admit  of  the  delineation.  He  was  allowed,  under  the  rules  of  his 
church,  a  salary  of  $80  per  year,  the  payment  depending:  upon  the  benevo- 
lence of  his  parishioners,  and,  in  his  "Autobiography,"  he  states  that  for 
each  year  of  the  first  three  of  his  service  he  received  but  one  half  of  that 
allowance;  indeed  during  his  long  ministerial  history,  stretching  over  a 
period  of  65  years — though  in  the  meantime  clerical  salaries  were  advanced 
with  the  growth  of  his  church — he  tells  us  that  in  but  three  instances  was  his 
annual  salary  paid  to  fullness. 

His  ministrations,  from  the  outset,  were  attended  with  phenomenal  success. 
Many  of  his  public  meetings,  because  of  the  opposition  he  met  with  from 
rival  denominations,  as  well  as  those  who  were  enemies  of  good  order,  were 
dramatic,  some  of  which  gave  promise  of  a  tragic  ending,  and  would  have  so 
resulted  but  for  his  rare  mental  alertness  and  physical  courage — the  latter,  in 
all  cases,  being  simply  a  reflex  of  the  moral  force  in  the  make-up  of  Cart- 
wright's  character. 

His  ministerial  career,  after  taking  regular  orders,  covered  a  period  of 
more  than  65  years,  20  of  which  were,  for  the  most  part,  given  within  the 
limits  of  the  southern  states,  he,  in  the  meantime,  being  domiciled  in  Ken- 
tucky; and  45  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  during  all  of  which  latter  period  he 
made  Pleasant  Plains,  in  Sangamon  county,  his  place  of  constant  residence. 
Fifteen  years  of  his  entire  minstry  he  did  duty  as  a  circuit  rider  in  parishes 
which  involved  hundreds  of  miles  of  itineration,  the  rude  cabins  of  the 
frontier  being  his  places  for  preaching.  The  remaining  50  years  of  his  cler- 
ical life  were  given  to  the  duties  of  presiding  elder,  a  post  to  which  he  was 
first  appointed  in  1812,  and,  thereafter,  with  almost  unbroken  succession,  was 
repeatedly  re-appointed  by  the  bishops,  until,  in  that  important  office,  second 
only  to  the  bishopric,  he  rounded  out  a  half  century  of  inestimable  service. 

His  earlier  districts,  as  presiding  elder,  were  even  larger  than  his  circuits, 
the  former,  at  times,  covering  portions  of  territory  now  embraced  within 
several  states  of  the  Union.  Much  of  the  country  was  without  roads — in  some 
instances  even  devoid  of  trails — the  lonely  itinerant  having  to  gauge  his 
course  by  general  direction,  across  trackless  wastes,  by  certain  fixed  objects 
on  constantly  expanding  horizons,  until  destination  was  reached  in  some  iso- 
lated cabin.  The  heat  of  summer's  sun,  and  the  more  inhospitable  rigors 
of  the  winter's  blasts,  unbridged,  swollen  and  turbulent  streams  seemed 
never  to  have  impeded  his  progress,  since  it  is  said  of  him  that  he  seldom 
missed  an  appointment.  Coming,  at  long  intervals  into  these  lonely  frontier 
homes,  with  such  uniform  punctuality,  must  indeed  have  made  his  visitations 
seem  to  their  occupants  like  those  of  an  evangel.  And  why  not?  He  was 
their  highway  commissioner,  their  newspaper,  their  railroad,  telegraph  and 
telephone;  he  was  indeed  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "Prepare 
ye  the  way  and  make  the  path  straight,"  for  a  dispensation  of  which  he  was 
the  prophet  and  which  he  lived  to  see  in  fulfilment. 

He  was  13  times  elected,  by  the  respective  annual  conferences  to  which 
he  belonged,  a  delegate  to  the  quadrennial  session  of  the  general  conference — 
the  chief  legislative  council  of  his  church — wherein  representatives  held  sit- 
tings from  all  parts  of  the  world  where  his  denomination  had  an  organiza- 
tion. In  the  meantime  he  served  his  church,  in  both  the  annual  and  general 
conferences,  on  committees  covering  the  widest  range  of  subjects,  and,  in 
the  absence  of  the  bishops,  was  twice  elected  presiding  officer  of  his  annual 
conference.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  Metropolitan  church  in  1853,  custodian 
of  the  centenary  funds,  in  1840,  1841  and  1845;  for  two  years  he  served,  and 
without  compensation,  as  superintendent  of  the  Pottawattomie  Indian  mis- 
sion; he  served  for  six  years  as  visiting  trustee  to  McKendree  college,  and 
the  records  show  that  in  1830,  he  acted  as  president  of  its  board,  and  that  15 
years  later  that  body,  not  unworthily,  honored  him  with  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity.  He  was  also  for  three  years  visiting  trustee  of  Illinois  Wesleyan 
university,  one  year  to  the  Garrett  Biblical  institute,  and  a  like  period  presi- 
dent of  the  Pleasant  Plains  academy. 


A  fact  shf)ul<l  not  iro  unmeiif i«)ii»nl  lu-re.  to  which  my  attention  has  been 
called  by  I)r.  .1  F  Stiyler,  vice-president  of  this  society,  ('aitwri^rht.  to- 
gether with  ( lOVjMnors  Cole,  lieynolds,  Kdwards;  .IiKij^es  Bre»'se  and  Hall; 
Prof.  .lohn  Kus«<ell  and  others,  were,  in  \H'27,  th(*  ortratuzers  of  the  first  State 
historical  society.  This  was  but  three  years  after  his  advent  to  the  State, 
and  shows,  even  at  that  early  date,  how  important  a  factor  he  was  rejjarded 
anion^r  the  pioneer  public  men,  independent  of  the  qaestion  of  church  affilia- 
tion. 

He  was  a  chaplain  in  General  Jackson's  armv,  and  was  present  at  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans.  On  the  authority  of  Judtre  Zane,  of  I'tah,  for  many  years 
a  neijfhbor  of  I)octor  ('artwrit;ht.  the  followinj^  incident  is  wortliy  of  note: 
liefore  entering;  into  the  battle,  tlie  general  called  his  chaplains  toj^ether  and 
exh(»rteil  them,  "to  preach  to  the  soldiers  the  justice  of  their  cause  and  as- 
>ure  them,  if  they  died  in  battle,  they  would  ^o  straipht  to  Heaven."  Cart- 
wriirht  replied,  "General,  I  can't  t^o  quite  that  far,  but  I  can  say  I  believe 
our  cause  is  of  (Jod,  and  that  if  any  of  them  should  be  killed,  iiud  in  the  last 
account  would  jjive  them  credit  for  their  sacrifices.''  A  very  conservative 
statement. 

In  1823,  because  of  the  baleful  influence  of  slaveiy,  he  determined  to  leave 
Kentucky,  assitjninpr  the  followinp:  reasons  therefor:  "I  would  jret  entirely 
clear  of  the  evil  of  slavery;  could  raise  my  children  where  work  was  not 
thoutrht  a  de«^radation.  and  could  better  my  temporal  circumstances,  and  pro- 
cure land  for  my  children  as  they  f^rew  up,  and  could  Icarry  the  gospel  to 
needy,  destitute  souls,  in  some  new  country,  deprived  of  the  means  of  p^race." 

His  wife — a  native  Kentucky  lady,  whose  maiden  name  was  Miss  Frances 
Oaines,  to  whom  he  had  then  been  married  for  1(3  years,  and  to  whom  he  sub- 
mitted all  his  plans  before  decisions  for  action — was  in  entire  accord  with  his 
suprcestions  to  chaufre  their  habitation.  So,  in  the  spring?  of  1S23,  with  his 
brother  in-law.  Mr.  (laines,  and  Rev.  Charles  Holidaj',  he  set  out  on  horse- 
back to  "explore  Illinois,"  with  the  result  of  tixinp:  on  Santramon  county  as 
his  future  home,  to  which  locality  he  moved  in  the  fall  of  1824.  Here  he  lived 
for  more  than  a  generation  and  a  half,  identified  with  the  interests  and  his- 
tory of  the  State,  and  an  important  factor  in  its  material  growth  and  relig- 
ious civilization.  At  that  time  Sangamon  was  the  northernmost  organized 
county  in  tfie  State.  All  nortli  of  it  was  an  Indian  country,  and  though  not 
occupied  by  hostile  tribes,  in  th:^  sense  of  those  we  have  already  alluded  to 
as  infesting  Kentucky,  they  were  degraded  and  shiftless,  having  adopted 
"civilization"  only  to  the  extent  of  accepting  the  "firewater"  of  their  pale 
faced  brelhern.  He  immediately  took  work  in  the  conference,  was  assigned 
to  a  circuit,  sparsely  populated,  and  not  unlike  those  he  had  known  in  his 
Kentucky  experience. 

Reverting  to  the  slavery  <}uestion,  the  inducing  cause  of  his  removal  from 
the  south,  and  <|Uotnig  from  his  "Autobiography,"  he  says:  "1  will  not  at- 
tempt to  enumerate  the  moral  evils  that  have  bt'cn  produci'd  by  slavery;  their 
name  is  legion.  And  now,  notwithstanding  these  are  my  honest  views  of 
slavery,  I  have  never  seen  a  rabid  abolitionist  or  free-soil  society  that  I  could 
join,  because  they  resort  to  unjustifiable  legislation,  and  the  means  they  em- 
ploy aie  generally  unchristian." 

His  abhorrence  of  slavery  was  only  e(jualled  by  his  detestation  of  anti-slav- 
ery agitation  and  "underground  railroads."  It  is  not  dillicult  to  .see  how  his 
views  at  that  period  should  have  proven  unsatisfactory  to  both  sides  of  this 
controversy.  By  some  in  the  north  he  was  considered  in  sympathy  with  the 
pro-slavery  element,  while  by  others  in  the  south  he  was  reganled  as  a  con- 
federate of  the  al)olitionists. "  His  views,  in  1S24,  in  effect  »^imply  anticipated 
tlie  position  of  the  Republican  party  at  the  tinn»  of  its  organi/.atum  in  1S,'>G  — 
"non  in»erfrrence  with  slavery  where  ii  exists,  an  I  its  restri<'tiou  from  free 
territory"— he  believing,  as  did  the  fathers,  its  peaceable  extinction  would 
ultimately  be  accomplished. 

The  session  of  the  General  Conference  which  met  in  New  York  in  1844,  and 
of  which  body  Cartwright  was  a  conspicuous  member,  was  one  which  created 
intense  excitement  thrtiughout   the  entire  country.     The   Baltimore  Annual 


Conference,  but  a  short  time  before,  suspended  one  of  its  ministerial  mem- 
bers for  failing  to  manumit  certain  slaves  received  by  him  through  a  recent 
marriage.  On  appeal  to  the  General  Conference,  after  a  debate  of  intense 
acrimony,  the  action  of  the  lower  conference  was  sustained,  followed  at  the 
same  session  by  legislation,  of  a  provisional  nature,  which  was  equivalent  to 
a  recognition  of  the  rights  of  that  portion  of  the  church  adhering  to  slavery  to 
detach  itself  from  the  parent  church  organization .  Cartwright  opposed  this  with 
all  the  intensity  of  his  nature,  but  on  a  vote  of  110  to  68  was  defeated — his 
four  associate  delegates  from  the  Illinois  conference  voting  with  the  majority. 
He  took  the  position  that  no  portion  of  the  church  had  the  constitutional  right 
to  secede,  and  that,  after  having  so  done,  no  rights  could  attach  by  which  the 
seceding  element  could  justly  claim  possession  of  any  of  the  property  of  the 
original  organization.  Indeed,  his  position  here  was,  in  an  important  sense, 
anabgous  to  that  of  our  general  government  in  its  contention  with  the  south 
over  the  doctrine  of  secession  which  led  to  the  Civil  War. 

He  was  a  life  long  democrat;  first  an  adherent  of  Jackson,  subsequently  of 
Douglas,  and  later,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  an  uncompromising 
Union  democrat,  believing  in  the  most  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  until 
complete  conquest  was  made  of  secession. 

He  was  a  devout  believer  and  defender  of  the  polity  of  his  church.  He 
was  strongly  opposed  to  laj'  representation  in  its  legislative  bodies,  for 
which  cherished  opinion  he  was  frequently  called  ''unprogiessive."  When 
it  is  stated  that  it  was  his  conviction  that  the  ministerial  function  was  one 
purely  spiritual — the  preaching  of  the  word — and  that  the  "book  concern" 
and  other  like  agencies,  even  the  colleges  of  denomination,  should  be  manned 
by  a  godly  laity,  instead  of  the  clergy,  he  had  much  better  warrant  for  his 
views  on  the  question  of  lay  representation  than  the  very  strong  minority 
which  so  long  and  tenaciously  opposed  it. 

A  feature  in  the  career  of  our  subject,  which  I  am  surprised  has  not 
elicited  special  comment — except  its  bare  mention  in  his  "autobiography" — 
is  the  fact  that  he  represented  Sangamon  county  in  1828,  1829,  1832  and  1833 
in  the  Lower  House  of  the  Illinois  General  Assembly.  At  the  time  of  his 
first  election  that  county  returned  three  members.  There  were  nine  candi- 
dates voted  for,  the  three  highest  receiving  the  following  votes:  J.  H.  Pugh, 
649;  Peter  Cartwright,  560;  William  Elkin,  554.  At  the  same  election  Jack- 
son received  682  aud  Adams  431  for  president.  In  1830,  Cartwright  stood  for 
re-election,  and  out  of  eight  candidates,  his  vote  took  the  fourth  place,  and 
he  was  therefore  defeated.  In  1832,  he  was  again  a  candidate,  with  eleven 
others,  four  of  whom,  under  a  new  apportionment,  were  to  be  elected.  The 
four  highest  votes  were  as  follows:  G  D.  Taylor.  1,127;  John  T.  Stuart,  991; 
Achilles  Morris,  945;  Peter  Cartwright,  815.  At  this  time  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
one  among  the  candidates,  and  eighth  on  the  list,  receiving  657  votes.  At 
the  same  election  Jackson  received  for  president  1,033,  and  Henry  Clay  810. 
In  1846,  Mr.  Cartwright  ran  for  Congress  against  Mr.  Lincoln,  receiving 
4,827  votes,  against  the  latter's  6,340. 

The  House  journal,  during  his  first  year's  service,  shows  him  to  have  been 
an  active  member  in  matters  of  legislation.  He  was  the  author  of  a  bill, 
"To  prevent  immorality  and  vice;"  also  one  concerning  "Distribution  ot 
school  funds;"  another,  "To  amend  the  act  relating  to  criminal  jurispru- 
dence." as  well  as  various  resolutions  covering,  "The  protection  of  seminary 
lands.  State  banks,  etc."  On  the  organization  of  the  House  in  1833,  he  was 
made  spes.ker  pro  te7n.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  notify  the 
Governor  of  the  organization  of  the  House,  also  of  the  committee  on  "rules," 
and  the  chairman  of  the  standing  "committee  on  education"  and  a  member 
of  the  standing  committee  on  "petitions  and  grievances."  He  was  aho  a 
member  of  19  select  committees  and  chairman  of  a  number  of  the  same,  and 
was  the  author  of  various  important  bills  and  resolutions.  A  bill  to  establish 
a  "State  Seminary,"  presented  by  him  went  to  a  second  reading,  after  which 
it  disappeared  from  the  records;  was  likely  smothered  in  committee.  It  is  a 
curious  bit  of  history  that  the  object  of  one  of  the  select  committees  to  which 
be  was  appointed  contemplated  an  investigation,  and  report  upon  some 
method  by  which  the  prairie  lands  of  the  State  might  be  used  for  agricul- 
tural purposes. 


He  was  the  author  of  a  preamble  and  resolutions  against  South  Carolina 
nullitication,  in  response  to  a  luessajje  on  that  subject  from  President  Jack- 
son, which  for  ila  excellence  of  composition,  diplomatic  verbiai^*',  judicial 
temper  and  patriotic  impulses,  is  especially  notable.  It  went  to  the  "Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole,"  was  discussed,  an«i  upon  motion  the  subject  was 
referred  to  a  joint  committee  of  ihe  Senal»*  an«l  House,  Mr.  ( 'artwriglit  hav- 
injf  been  appointed  a  member  trum  the  latter  body. 

The  Journal  shows  him  to  be  one  of  the  four  most  active  members  of  the 
House,  and  particularly  interested  in  schools,  roa«ls,  eilucational  le^ii^lHtion 
and  the  varied  phases  of  internal  improvements.  His  punctuality,  as  shown 
bv  the  roll-call,  was  phenomenal.  Thi>  same  characteristic  was  peculiar  to 
his  ministerial  career,  for  it  is  said  that  in  but  a  single  instance,  (and  that  on 
account  of  the  serious  sickness  of  his  wife)  durinj^  the  forty- five  years  of  his 
connection  with  the  Illinois  conference,  did  he  fail  to  meet  at  its  annual 
ses'iions,  and  in  only  three  instances  did  he  miss  the  first  roll-call,  two  of 
which  sessions  found  him  present  on  the  second,  while  through  all  those 
years  he  was  not  off  iluty  to  exceed  a  six  month's  period. 

That  Cartwright  should  have  left  an  estate  valued  at  $40,000  will  prove  a 
surprising  statement  when  set  over  against  the  one  already  made,  viz:  that 
in  but  three  in.stances  of  his  long  ministerial  history  was  his  annual  salary, 
parsinnmiously  estimated,  paid  to  fullness.     In   explanation  of  this  apparent 

Earadox  we  have  furnished  a  side-light  on  the  character  of  the  man  >howing 
ow  effectually,  from  the  beginning  of  his  settled  woik,  he  provided  against 
contingencies  which  might  thwart  the  all-absorbinir  purpose  of  his  soul. 
With  his  Qualifications  as  preacher,  evangelist  and  administrator,  his  church 
recognized  his  added  efficiency  as  a  financier.  He  constantly  impressed 
upon  his  parishioners  the  importance  and  duty  of  their  meeting  with  punct- 
uality the  appointed  apportionments  for  the  various  benevolences  of  the 
church,  but  never  pressed  his  own  claims  in  the  matter  of  salary.  He 
merely  took  what  was  given  him  by  those  appointed  to  see  to  the  collection. 
In  this  connection  call  to  mind  the  fact  already  recited,  that,  from  the  date 
of  his  marriage  to  his  death,  he  never  had  but  two  residences — both  being 
farm  homes— where  by  the  toil  of  his  own  hands,  he  supplemented  the  defic- 
iencies of  his  earlier  unpaid  salaries.  As  a  family  grew  up  about  him  its 
members  became  factors  in  the  matter  of  the  common  support  of  the  house- 
hold, and  the  surplus  earnings  of  this  aggregation  of  forces  were  invested  in 
the  cheap  lands  of  early  times,  so  that,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  he  left  to  his 
widow  and  the  eight  children  who  hat!  grown  to  maturity,  an  inheritance — the 
product  <jf  more  than  a  half  century's  accretive  values — far  fiom  being  suf- 
ficiently great  to  admit  of  having  imputed  to  him  the  reputation  of  a  "grasp- 
ing" character  or  to,  in  any  sense,  dim  the  lustre  of  the  fame  he  won  in 
having  led  a  sacrificial  life  for  the  good  of  others.  In  these  tacts  are  found 
an  important  lesson.  His  church  never,  in  a  single  instance,  furnished  him 
a  parsonage.  His  circuits  and  districts  were  of  such  extent  that  the  places 
he  chose  for  permanent  homes  were  practically  central  to  his  work,  and  the 
foresight  in  providing  himself  with  a  fixed  habitation,  as  a  base  of  operation, 
assured  the  resources  for  support  which  enabled  him  to  carry  on  the  wonder- 
ful work  which  he  accomplished  during  two  generations — ihe  first  of  wliich 
was  essentially  pioneer  m  character.  It  should  not  go  unsaid  that  in  the 
meantime  he  was  a  dieerful  contributor  to  the  benevolences  to  which  he 
urged  others  to  become  patrons,  especially  priding  himself  in  what  he  had 
given  for  education — a  cause  to  which  he  had  so  often,  and  unjustly,  been 
accused  of  antagr)nizing. 

Thus  you  have  a  running  sketch,  or  skeleton,  of  this  remarkable  man's 
career,  worthy  of  a  filling  by  the  pen  of  a  painstaking  biographer.  Opin- 
ions are  so  diverse  as  to  what  manner  of  man  he  was,  that,  if  tradition  onlv 
were  relied  upon,  it  would  be  but  a  generation  or  two  until  he  would  fall 
within  the  category  of  apocryphal  characters.     If  he  were  to  come  from  the 

{rrave,  into  this  presence,  I  know  of  no  conspicuous  character,  ether  than 
limself,  who  could  more   fittingly  ask  the  question,  "Who  do  men  sav  that 
lam?" 


9 

Cartwright  was  five  feet  nine  inches  in  height,  weighing,  in  his  prime, 
about  180  pounds;  muscular,  erect,  dark  brown  hair,  dark  grey  eyes — with 
that  flashing  characteristic  peculiar  to  men  of  intense  natures — well  poised 
head,  and  with  the  firm  set  lips  of  a  man  having  great  resolution. 

As  a  judge  of  men  and  the  motives  by  which  they  were  actuated,  he  was 
unsurpassed.  He  seemed  to  have  an  ex-ray  gift  by  which  he  divined  the 
secret  thoughts  of  the  bully  holding  evil  intent  toward  him,  as  also  the  self- 
asserting  and  patronizing  essay-writing  preacher  from  the  theological  sem- 
inary; for  the  one,  as  was  ofttimes  proven,  be  had,  in  his  consecrated  muscu- 
lar arsenal  the  weapons  which  never  failed  for  his  defense,  and  for  the  other 
a  righteous  ridicule  equally  effective. 

He  did  not  like  to  be  patronized,  and  despised  sham  and  pretense  with  a 
holy  hatred.  To  be  approached  by  one  with  the  bearing  of  asserted  superi- 
ority, because  of  his  being  a  frontiersman,  aroused  his  indignation,  not  alone 
that  it  was  a  personal  reflection,  but  because  of  the  fact  that  it  was  at  the 
same  time  an  aspersion  on  a  constituency  of  which  he  held  himself  but  a  typ- 
ical member.  I  think  his  motto  must  have  been:  "Every  man  my  equal, 
and  no  one  my  superior."  Both  morally  and  physically  he  was  absolutely 
fearless.  All  of  his  physical  encounters — in  every  one  of  which  he  was  vic- 
torious, and  with  some  ('f  the  worst  characters  of  his  time— he  was  never  the 
aggressor.  They  were  either  in  personal  defense  or  in  vindication  of  the 
rights  of  his  religious  gatherings — more  frequently  the  latter.  In  defense  of 
his  congregations  may  be  named  the  incident  of  his  unhorsing  with  a  club  a 
desperate  character,  who  sought,  at  the  head  of  a  squad  of  improvised  cav- 
alry, to  break  up  one  of  his  campmeetings,  only  after  his  assailant  had  failed, 
by  a  misdirected  stroke,  to  brain  him  with  a  weapon  of  like  character;  and, 
also,  the  putting  to  ignominious  flight  two  stalwart  Kentucky  brothers,  who 
Clime  to  administer  a  horsewhipping  to  the  preacher,  because  he,  while  speak- 
ing at  a  campmeeting,  had  given  the  *'jerks"  to  their  two  sisters,  together 
with  many  others,  by  turning  loose  from  a  phial  some  volatile  essence,  which, 
as  they  believed,  cast  a  kind  of  "hoodoo"  spell  upon  all  the  people.  His  ac- 
cepting the  challenge  to  duel  of  the  chivalric  Kentucky  lawyer,  by  choosing 
cornstalks  as  the  weapons,  to  the  utter  discomfiture  of  the  latter,  and  his 
ducking  in  the  middle  of  the  river  the  bellicose  ferryman  who  had  published 
his  purpose  to  flog  Cartwright  on  their  first  meeting,  are  among  the  cases  in- 
volving personal  grievances.  It  is  a  fact,  singular  as  true,  that  nearly  ail  of 
his  vanquished  subsequently  became  his  spiritual  subjects. 

A  typical  illustration  of  the  individuality  of  his  moral  courage  is  found  in 
an  incident  given  of  General  Jackson's  presence  at  one  of  his  meetings. 
Cartwright  was  about  to  enter  upon  his  discourse,  when  an  associate  preacher 
seated  on  the  rostrum— presumably  as  an  admonition  to  temper  his  remarks 
so  as  not  to  give  offense  to  the  distinguished  visitor— whispered  a  knowledge 
of  his  presence.  To  the  amazement  of  the  entire  audience,  Cartwright  called 
out:  "Who  is  General  Jackson?  If  he  does  not  repent  of  his  sins  and  be- 
come converted,  he  will  go  hell  like  anyone  else."  It  was  generally  believed 
that  a  challenge  for  duel  would  be  sent  the  preacher  by  the  general.  On  the 
contrary,  the  latter,  after  the  close  of  the  service,  invited  Cartwright  to  dine 
with  him,  and  congratulated  him  on  his  sincerity  and  high  moral  courage. 
At  the  table  was  a  young  infidel  lawyer,  who  embarrassed  the  preacher  with 
questions  which  he,  out  of  respect  to  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion,  refused 
to  answer.  Failing  to  involve  him  in  a  controversy,  he  turned  to  the  host 
and  asked,  "General,  do  you  believe  there  is  a  hell?"  to  receive  in  quick  re- 
sponse; "If  there  is  not,  there  ought  to  be,  to  put  such  d— d  rascals  as  you 
are  in." 

As  a  preacher  Cartwright  was  logical,  forcible  and  convincing— his  audi- 
ences, ofttimes,  being  moved  into  tumultuous  excitement.  He  had  a  deep 
rich  bass  voice,  which,  even  in  his  intensest  moments,  he,  unlike  most  of  the 
preachers  of  his  day,  never  strained  to  fullest  tension  He  was  always  self- 
possessed  and,  in  his  advice  to  young  preachers  gave  them  counsel,  as  to  the 
use  of  the  voice,  worthy  a  place  in  an  elocutionary  treatise.  As  a  debater  he 
had  few  equals,  and,  on  the  floor  of  the  general  and  annual  conferences,  his 
intellectual  strength  was  conceded  by  both  colleague  and  competitor,  and,  in 


10 

shaping  Ipfrislation.  Hp  was  amon(f  the  foremost  in  these  rfpresentative 
bodies.  Thoiiirh  dt'tVnieil  on  the  slavery  issue  in  the  j^eneral  eonferfiire.  of 
1B44— all  four  of  his  Illinois  (•oiieaj^ues  voting  aj;ain>t  hitn— on  his  return 
home  he  carried  his  annual  c-onfj^rence  aj^ain^t  ratifying:  the  action  of  the 
former  body.  He  was  wholly  fair  in  controversy,  conceded  all  stron^j  points 
of  an  opponent,  never  eijuivocnted,  and,  while  in  the  leijislature.  the  recorded 
votes  show  that  he  was  not  disposed  to  filibuster.  He  was  resourceful,  liav- 
wg  an  amassment  of  information  on  almost  all  questions  which  was  truly  sur- 
prising;, and,  in  an  extremitv.  could  promptly  summon  to  his  aid  the  sources 
of  relief  t«)  meet  emerjjencies. 

His  faculty  for  adapting;  himself  to  environment  was  remarkable.  He 
could,  in  the  apostolic  sense,  be  all  thintrs  to  all  men.  To  the  rude,  rude:  to 
the  one  disposeil  to  bluff,  he  was  a  re^^ular  "liabcock  Kxtiutfuisher'' — in  all 
such  cases,  maintainintr  his  own  self-respect  perfectly.  In  social  circles  of  the 
cultured,  on  the  authority  of  Doctors  McElfresh,  McElroy,  and  Judpe  Zane — 
all  of  whom  were  Cart wriglit's  latter-day  contemporaries — he  was  dij;nitie<l, 
courteous  and  refined  in  both  bearing  and  speech,  and  chivalric  to  the 
ladies. 

He  was  a  threat  reader,  a  strong;  forcible  and  terse  writer.  His  "Autobio- 
jrraphy"  is  not  to  be  taken  as  an  example.  This  is  tjiven  out  as  a  rambling; 
account,  or  diary,  of  his  current  experiences,  and  it  was  not  until  years  of  per- 
sistent persuasion,  by  the  leadin^r  men  of  his  church  includintr  the  bishops, 
that  lie  <"onsented  to  prepare  it  for  publication.  For  his  personal  experiences, 
its  side  liijhts  on  the  history  of  his  time,  it  should  be  held  invaluabl\.%  and  its 
very  incoherency  makes  it  all  the  more  interesting,  and,  in  an  important 
sense,  a  model  of  its  kind  in  literature. 

His  "Letter  to  the  Devil."  in  answer  to  one  devised  and  published  b}'  three 
anti-Arminian  preacliers,  who  made  Cartwri^'ht  the  subject  of  severe 
animadversion,  is  a  document  of  strenjrth,  fjood,  well-sentencetl  Enj:lish,  and 
as  an  ar^rument — in  a  day,  t(jo,  when  denominational  controversy  was  at  its 
heitrht— holds  hierh  rank  among  the  papers  which  successfully  combated  Cal- 
vinism. 

He  was  frequently  spoken  of  as  an  enemy  to  education— a  statement  far  too 
commonly  accepted.  The  record  I  have  already  furnished  of  his  acts,  in  both 
church  and  Slate  service,  is  a  complete  refutation  of  that  accusation.  Cart- 
wright  was  very  sincerely  opposed  to  theological  schools,  measurintr  their 
merit  by  the  preacher  product  they  sent  to  the  west,  in  early  tunes.  He  lost 
no  opportunity  to  publicly  empliasize  his  opposition,  and,  in  so  doing,  pro- 
voked their  adherents  to  a  defense  and  the  use  of  arguments,  whether  unwit- 
tingly or  not,  which  gave  color  to  the  idea  that  he  was  an  enemy  to  the  cause 
of  education  in  general. 

He  was  an  ardent  friend  of  l>otli  academies  and  colleges  and.  since  full 
training  in  the  latter  is  supposed  to  result  in  a  mental  iliscipline  titling  the 
tinished  product  for  original  investigatit)n  along  scienlilic  and  other  lines,  it 
was  undoubtiMllv  his  l)elief  that  a  like  process  of  training  would  (lualify  tlie 
college  graiiuale  for  llie  interpretation  of  a  science,  which,  because  of  its 
simplicity,  bore  the  legend  that  the  "wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  need  not 
err  therein,"  In  other  words,  it  si'emed  his  conviction  that  the  college 
grailuate  ought  to  be  suflicienlly  e(juipped  to  receive  a  revelati(»n  without 
speciali/.ing,  as  is  recjuireil  in  cases  where  scientific  subjects  of  investigation 
are  contested  mysteries.  Carlwright  evidenllv  thought  that  after  a  young 
man  lia<l  titled  him-ielf  with  a  thoroiigli  collegiate  e<iucatiMn.  specializing  in 
a  theological  school  would  devt'Iop  ecclesiastical  conceit  at  the  expense  of  the 
pure  gospel 

Cartwriu'ht  was  himsell  an  educated  man.  Mark  you.  I  am  iioi  saying  he 
was  sclmlarly.  Scholarsliip  and  ediica!n»n.  in  common  parlance,  are  illogi- 
cally  used  as  convertible  terms.  Scholarship  is  a  means  to  an  end — educa- 
tion. It  o'ten  occurs  that  scholars  ar«*  not  educated,  ami.  occasionally,  tliat 
educated  mt'ii  are  not  scholars.  Lincoln  is  an  illu->lration  of  the  latter  class 
— likewise  < 'arlwriirht.  The  truth  is,  education  is  only  a  necessitv  for  the 
common  mind;  with  the  uncommon  mind,  a  powerful  auxiliary. 


11 

Furthermore,  as  an  evidence  of  his  insistence  in  behalf  of  popular  educa- 
tion, he  was  one  of  the  chief  advocates  favoring  the  establishment  of  a 
literary  and  religious  paper,  for  the  use  of  the  more  western  church  constit- 
uency, and  continued  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  enterprise,  until  he,  with  his 
CO- laborers,  had  successfully  lodged  the  Central  Christian  Advocate  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi.  He  carried  good  literature  in  the  proverbial  sad- 
dle-bags of  the  early-day  Methodist  preacher,  and  tells  us  he  was  instrumen- 
tal in  the  sale  of  $10,000  worth  of  books  in  pioneer  homes,  adding  that  he 
verily  believed  their  distribution  had  done  more  good  than  all  his  preaching. 
This  last  thought,  together  with  the  oft-repeated  recognition  in  his  "autobio- 
graphy" of  the  value  and  power  of  his  associate  preachers — as  well  as  the 
like  service  of  broadminded  clergy  of  other  denominations — effectually  dis- 
poses of  the  frequent  aspersion  that  he  was  egotistical. 

It  may  be  a  surprise  to  you  that  I  should  speak  of  Cartwright  as  unsym- 
pathetic. If,  added  to  his  judical  and  logical  mind,  he  had  possessed  the 
warm  summer  glow  of  sympathy,  his  fertile  brain  would  have  minted  a  coin- 
age of  words  which  would  have  made  him  a  commanding  orator.  In  his 
family,  where  he  always  knew  himself  to  be  understood,  especially  by  his 
wife,  the  portcullis  of  his  heart  was  always  wide  open  to  an  exhibition  of  the 
utmost  tenderness.  On  all  questions  of  doubt  his  wife  was  the  supreme  court 
of  his  earthly  affections  and  to  its  decisions  he  rendered  cheerful  obedience. 

He  did  everything  from  a  sense  of  duty,  inspired  by  principle.  He  had 
faults,  made  mistakes,  but  no  one  was  more  prompt  than  he  to  acknowledge 
the  one  and  make  reparation  tor  the  other,  when  convinced  of  error,  and  his 
mind  was  always  open  to  conviction.  Judge  Zane,  in  writing  to  me,  gives  a 
notable,  indeed  pathetic  instance  of  this  in  a  case  where  Cartwright  had  gone 
to  law,  in  the  belief  that  he  had  been  wronged,  and  on  the  advice  of  two  at- 
torneys, who  assured  him  that  his  cause  was  that  of  justice.  After  the  testi- 
mony was  all  in,  and  the  court  had  given  the  verdict  against  him,  he  arose, 
apologetically  addressed  the  judge,  confessed  he  was  wrong,  footed  the  bill 
and  returned  to  his  home. 

Some  letters  I  have  received  speak  of  him  as  "peculiar"  and  "eccentric." 
So  he  was,  and  so  is  any  man,  who,  in  performance  of  duty  goes  forward  to 
a  goal  of  principle,  or  righteousness,  in  the  meantime,  having,  necessarily, 
to  trample  under  foot  the  impediments  of  popular  environments. 

What  now  have  you  to  say  of  this  child  born  during  the  closing  scenes  of 
the  Revolutionary  war;  this  lad  who  listened  about  the  campfire  to  the  tragic 
tales  of  danger  which  beset  the  families  with  whom  he  traveled  over  a  crim- 
son trail  in  search  of  homes  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  young  man  whcse  as- 
sociates were  citizens  of  "Rogues  Harbor?" 

If,  with  his  great  natural  abilities,  he  had  continued  his  career  as  a  gam- 
bler, he  would,  doubtless,  have  come  to  the  head  of  some  formidable  Monte 
Carlo;  if,  with  his  judicial  mind,  he  had  been  schooled  for  Ihw,  he  might 
have  taken  a  seat  in  our  highest  tribunal :  if  he  had  adopted  the  business  of  an 
iron  monger,  he  might  have  anticipated  the  career  of  Carnegie.  He  was  a 
born  leader,  and,  had  he  devoted  himself  to  politics,  he  might  have  held 
any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people.  He  accepted  rather,  and  from  a  sheer 
sense  of  duty,  the  humbler  life  of  an  itinerant  preacher,  ignoring  the  glamor 
of  earthly  honor,  title,  and  emoluments — the  things  which  inspire  the  great 
bulk  of  the  race  to  highest  emleHVor — in  the  belief  that,  though  the  laurel 
wreath  were  denied  him  here,  he  would,  in  the  heieafter,  be  crowned  with 
one,  the  leaves  of  which  would  never  wither. 


